McEwen to spearhead Predictor-Lotto attack in Tour Down Under

Robbie McEwen in the Tour's green jersey (Image credit: Anthony Tan)

Tour de France sprint champion, Robbie McEwen, who last weekend won the Australian criterium championships, will spearhead the Predictor-Lotto team attack at the 2007 Tour Down Under. The 34 year-old Queenslander this year won three stages of the Giro d'Italia and three stages of the Tour de France as well as the coveted green sprinter's jersey. In the eight-year history of the Tour Down Under McEwen has won 11 stages, the most of any rider, and is expected to add more to the list in 2007.

"I would say our team looks like a 'GC' team rather than a sprinter's team," said McEwen. "In the finishes I'll be trying to work with Geert Steurs [new pro] and Fred [Rodriquez] and for the rest of the race we'll have Matthew Lloyd, who's a talented climber and Josep [Jufré] who's a good climber as well. ... Jufré has finished in the top-15 overall in the Vuelta [a España] but in this year's Vuelta he crashed out and did a lot of damage cutting the tendons in his arm, so the Tour Down Under will be his come back race."

The South African registered Barloworld has also confirmed its line up with South African Robert Hunter, 29, expected to challenge McEwen's sprint supremacy. Hunter's career highlights include stage wins in the Vuelta a España, Tour de Langkawi and Tour of Switzerland plus overall victory in the 2004 Tour of Qatar. On board with Hunter will be Italian Fabrizio Guidi, 34, whose resume boasts two stage wins in the Giro and three stage wins in the Vuelta. He has also claimed stage victories in Paris-Nice and the tours of Denmark, Austria and Poland.

Welsh star, Gereint Thomas, will debut with Barloworld at the Tour Down Under as one of the youngest riders in the race. The courageous 20 year old is forging a career in the sport after fighting back from serious injuries he sustained in an accident in Sydney in May 2004 which forced doctors to remove his spleen. This year he won the European U23 pursuit title and took silver at the track world championships in Bordeaux as member of the Great Britain pursuit team. He claimed bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and was the 2004 junior world champion in the scratch race.

The Navigators team will return to Adelaide in 2007 with four Australians in the starting eight. Commonwealth Games road time trial silver medallist and Jayco Herald Sun Tour stage winner, Ben Day, joins the team which also boasts sprinter Hilton Clarke. Clarke this year enjoyed great success in American including victory in the USPro criterium championship while back in Australia he successfully defended his sprinter's crown in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Ben Brooks and Glen Chadwick are the other two Australians in the line up. Also on the Navigators roster is three-time Olympian and former Ukrainian road champion Valery Kobzarenko who this year won overall honours in the Tour de Beauce. 2003 U23 world road champion and six time Uzbekistan champion, Sergey Lagutin, will also travel to Adelaide.